Monthly Archives: March 2013

Former Immigration Officer Sentenced to Four Years in Prison

Former Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) officer Diane Serré was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday for accepting bribes in exchange for preferential official treatment of applications for permanent residence. Serré was found guilty of 15 counts of fraud and 12 counts of breach of trust by an Ontario Superior Court Justice in June for using her position as […]

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Immigration Canada Announces April 1 Launch of Start-Up Visa Program

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced on Thursday that foreign entrepreneurs would be able to start applying for the newly created Start-Up Visa Program on April 1st of this year. “Canada is open for business to the world’s start-up entrepreneurs,” said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in announcing the launch date. “Innovation and entrepreneurship are essential drivers of the […]

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Canada’s Immigration Backlog Reduced by 40 Percent

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) backlog of permanent resident applications has declined by forty percent since 2008, according to a CIC announcement on Tuesday. A freeze in the acceptance of new Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Immigrant Investor applications, in place since July 2012, and an indefinite suspension of the parent and grandparent sponsorship stream of the Family Class immigration […]

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Canada Among Most Welcoming Countries to Foreign Visitors

A new travel and tourism study from the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks Canada as one of the most welcoming countries to foreign visitors, ahead of the United States and most European countries. The rankings, revealed by Max Fisher in a Washington Post story, can be found in a 400-plus page WEF analysis on national tourism sectors around the world. […]

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Canadian Immigration Application Fees to Increase

Immigration processing fees are going to increase, according to a proposed federal budget released on Thursday. The cause of the coming fee hikes, according to Alexis Pavlich, a spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, is Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) processing costs for citizenship applications that have increased over the last two decades, without any increases in fees over that […]

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Burlington, Ontario Ranks as Best City in Canada for Immigrants

MoneySense, a Canadian personal finance magazine, has released its annual Best Places to Live for 2013 index, and Calgary takes the number one spot as the best place to live in Canada overall, while Burlington, Ontario is ranked as the best city for new immigrants. The index scores cities according to 11 groups of indicators, which include commuting, crime, housing, weather, […]

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Canadian Immigration Department Releases TV Ad Warning of Marriage Fraud

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) began airing a television ad today warning Canadians of the dangers of marriage sponsorship fraud. The ad tells Canadians that some foreign individuals seek out Canadians and feign genuine affection for them, in order to convince the Canadian to marry them and sponsor them for permanent residence. The ruse is part of a ploy to […]

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Irish Immigration Shift from Australia to Canada, Fuelled by Calgary’s Economy

A story in Saturday’s Irish Times examines the increase in Irish immigration to Canada as the country’s workers seek employment abroad. The article notes two trends in recent years: Canada being increasingly favoured by Irish emigrants over Australia and the age of the average Irish emigrant increasing: “The most noticeable trend over the past 12 months has been the swing away […]

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Changes to Arranged Employment Stream of Federal Skilled Worker Program

Changes will be coming to application requirements under the arranged employment stream of the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) on May 4, 2013, according to an announcement by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) this week. Individuals with arranged employment in Canada and those enrolled in or who have graduated from a PhD program at a Canadian educational institution are the […]

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Immigration Canada Announces A Priority Occupations List for Federal Skilled Worker Program

After months of speculation that the new Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) would not have a priority occupations list, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has officially announced that the program will in fact have a priority occupations list when it starts taking applications on May 4th of this year. CIC issued the notice on March 1st, and warned applicants who […]

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